Merits
The Hopeful may buy Merits with Attribute or Skill prerequisites that they only meet when transformed. If they do so, they only gain the benefit of the Merit in question while in their transformed identity. Converting transformed dots to mundane dots unlocks Merits with prerequisites in the mundane identity if the character's new mundane traits are high enough to support the Merit. Below are new Merits related to the Princesses. Unless otherwise noted, all these Merits are reserved to the Hopeful. Beacon (*) Prerequisite: Not supernatural, Morality 7+. Available at character creation only. Beacons are those possessed of a strong Inner Light. They have a strong sense of hope, idealism, or optimism, a solid sense of morality or ethics, and a concern for the well-being of others. Because of their optimism and Inner Light, Beacons find it easier to hold onto their ideals; they gain a +1 bonus on degeneration rolls to avoid morality loss. Beacons also have a very mild Echo. While normally not strong enough to give a bonus, when a Beacon spends Willpower on a Social roll to interact with other mortals, she gains +4 on dice instead of +3. Beacons can recognize and transform Bequests, with an effective Inner Light of 1. As they have no Wisps, they cannot use a Bequest, unless its power requires no Wisps, or it has its own pool. Drawbacks: Like the Hopeful, Beacons are vulnerable to Sensitivity, with an effective Inner Light of 1. The Inner Light of the Beacon is fragile and easily crushed. If a Beacon ever loses her optimism or idealism, or if her Morality drops below 7, she loses the Beacon merit. If Beacons have dots in Shadows, they can travel to the Dreamlands, though lacking Wisps, they must spend 1 Willpower point to open a Crawlspace entrance; and lacking regalia, they are exposed to the Gales as long as they remain there. For rolls involving the Dreamlands, a Beacon has an effective Inner Light of 0 - they roll Empathy + Shadows to find a Crawlspace entrance, and Intelligence + Empathy to locate memories in Crawlspace. Any progress made toward spontaneous discovery of the Dreamlands is lost if the Beacon loses his last remaining dot in Shadows before finding the entrance. If a Beacon becomes a Sworn or a Princess, remove the Beacon merit; his Inner Light has developed into a stronger state where it is not so easily crushed. Bequest (**+) Your character possesses an object, within which has been bound a Charm. This might have come from within your own soul, to be granted to another or used to boost your own powers, or might have been obtained on a quest to the Dreamlands. Some senior members of the Nobility (such that there are) make a habit of gifting trusted friends with them for, despite the cost, they can give a Princess access to powers that she might not otherwise be able to reach. Every Bequest, like the Princesses, has two appearances: a mundane one from the vessel, and a glorious one from the Charm. And, like the Princesses, a Bequest's power can be used only when the Bequest is transformed. Transforming a Bequest is somewhat more difficult than transforming yourself; you can spend a Willpower point to do it reflexively (not a Wisp) or make a transformation roll of your Inner Light (not Belief + Inner Light.) A Bequest, once transformed, remains so for 1 scene. You need not be transformed to transform or use a Bequest, and you do not have to transform a Bequest yourself to use it. Any of the Hopeful, whether transformed or not, may recognize a Bequest as such; she rolls her Inner Light the first time she touches it in a scene. Bequests also show up on an Unseen Sense for Princesses. Bequests based on permanent Charms apply their Charm's effect to the person holding them as long as they are transformed. Bequests based on activated Charms require the person holding them to pay the Charm's cost, and then release the Charm's effect. If a Bequest is based on an upgraded Charm, every upgrade included in the Charm applies every time the Bequest is used, and you must pay the upgrades' cost in full -- a Bequest, unlike a Charm, is not flexible. If you have an Invocation that's compatible with the Bequest's Charm, you may apply it when using the Bequest, with the same effect as it would have on the Charm. Many Bequests carry a pool of Wisps within themselves, which their holders can spend to fuel them. The capacity of the store is 10 Wisps. To add Wisps to the pool, the Bequest's owner has to carry out a duty while the Bequest is on her person, roughly equivalent to one of her Sacred Oaths (and using the rules for them); the specific duty, and the pool the owner rolls, are fixed at the Bequest's making. A Bequest's base Merit dot cost is equal to one dot, plus the level of the Charm (so, for example, Charge, a Govern 2 Charm, adds two dots to the cost of the item), plus one dot per upgrade, plus one dot if the Bequest has a Wisp pool. For more details on Bequest creation, see the rules for the Bequeath charm. Circle (* - *****) The human mind was not designed for large numbers. When the suffering of millions feels incomprehensible, you can turn to the small every day problems and triumphs of friends and family to remind yourself what you are fighting for. The Circle Merit represents healthy relationships between a Princess and her family, close friends, or mentors, who are ordinary mortals (not supernatural in any way.) The more dots a Princess has, the more or the stronger these relationships are; describe the people your character is intimate with when you buy dots in Circle. A Princess with this Merit who spends an hour in the company of her circle may roll Inner Light + Empathy + Circle, and regains 1 Wisp for each success. Unlike Sacred Oaths, however, a Princess cannot gain more Wisps by this method than her dots in Circle each day. Successes above that limit are discarded. Dots in Shadows impose a penalty on the Circle roll just as for Sacred Oath rolls. In addition, while it is possible to gain Wisps just by conversing with a friend over the telephone, a Princess takes a penalty of -2 when attempting it. If a Princess gets a dramatic failure on a Circle roll, she loses 1 dot in the Merit; she recovers dots lost this way at a rate of 1 week per dot. Finally, an estrangement between a Princess and one of her intimates means permanent loss of all Circle dots tied to that person. Dream (* - *****) (This is the same Merit that appears in Second Sight. It is not reserved to the Hopeful.) Entwined Destiny (****) Prerequisite: Hopeful or not supernatural. Gaining another supernatural template does not break the bond from this Merit, but the benefit and drawback from it cease to apply. (Note that supernaturals of other types can be the subject of an Entwined Destiny.) You were bound to another before you were born, and both events and your inmost will urge you towards a specific role in his life. When you take this Merit, choose the nature of your relationship with its subject -- true love, rivalry, protection, loyalty, and enmity are all possible, and if none of these fit you may define your own, with the ST's approval. You may also choose the subject's name and general nature, or leave that up to the ST to decide. Once a scene, whenever you succeed in a significant task that plays into your destined role, you regain 1 point of Willpower; you cannot benefit from this, however, if you have indulged your Vice in the current scene. Drawback: In any scene when you have an opportunity to fulfill your destined role in dramatic action, and deliberately forgo it, you take a -2 penalty on all your actions until the scene ends. For example, if your destined rival challenges you, you must accept; if you discover your destined enemy's plot, you must oppose it; if your destined ward is in peril, you must rescue him. Mandate (* - *****) Every Calling has it's Sacred Oaths, the means by which a Princess feels is her duty to help the world. The Mandate Merit represents not an emotional connection to one's Calling, but a practical ability to fulfil it. Any Grace could take it upon herself to help the local bully apologise and make amends, but when all is measured it's the Grace who works as a professional diplomat and mends broken relations between entire nations who's making the bigger difference. When a Princess buys the Mandate Merit, the player states how their character is in an advantaged position to make a difference. Whenever the Princess uses her advantage to help with her Sacred Oaths, she adds her Mandate dots to the Attribute + Skill roll. For example, a Champion with a job on the police force can roll Wits + Investigation + Mandate; a Mender nurse would roll Intelligence + Medicine + Mandate; a Seeker publishing a blog rolls Wits + Expression + Mandate. More dots in Mandate represent broader influence and better reputation. The Mandate merit only applies when the Princess attempts to regain Wisps during downtime. Nation (special) You are one of the founders of a Nation; some of the people you have influenced for the better are joined with you in a common cause ... a bond that's more than natural, for it is sanctified by oath and commemorated by a monument in the Dreamlands. Special: Characters don't buy Nation as a standard Merit; instead they buy points in the Nation's traits with their experience, at a rate of 3 xp for 1 Nation point. A nakama of Hopeful can create a Nation together, each one contributing points towards its traits;. and Hopeful without a Nation can join an existing one and contribute points to it at the given rate. Onceborn (**) Available at character creation only. You are one of the rare people who Blossomed, and became one of the Hopeful, without any memory of a past life as a Princess; your soul was never trapped in the Dreamlands, and the bitter memory of the Fall is not yours. This unshadowed innocence grants an unusual level of moral clarity. Your Belief begins at 8, not 7. Special: If the Storyteller allows PCs to trade dots in starting Belief for experience points, a Onceborn character may not do so! Keeping to a high moral standard, despite the many temptations the World of Darkness offers, is the reason your character Blossomed without a boost from a past life. Palace (*-*****, special) A Princess's home is her castle. And this phrase can apply in many ways, depending on her personal tastes. It may be a literal stronghold; a place armoured against the horrors which dwell in the world, where she can relax for once. It may be a place of beauty, in which she can entertain guests without a fear for their safety. It may even just be her one safe place, where she can let down her guard properly, without fear for what may happen. No matter what, it is a place which is indelibly hers, even if the legal system might disagree. Palaces are not created equal. The abandoned warehouse downtown, where she and her nakama train, may be spacious and out of the way, but is insecure, relying more on obscurity than anything which might heed a determined assailant. A family house may be able to be made more secure, but the few rooms she can devote to Hopeful business will invariably be cramped. The Merit is therefore composed of multiple sub-Merits; each dot purchased is assigned to one of the sub-Merits below. Special: It's not uncommon for Princesses to end up living together; it makes things easier than having to keep things secret from relatives and friends not in the know, and makes it more difficult for dumb Darklings to follow one home to prey on the weak. A tight-knit group can build a shared Palace, with each member contributing Merit dots towards its sub-Merits. The normal limits for each component remain. If a contributor to a shared Palace abandons it, the dots they contributed are removed, and the contributing character gets back all but one of them for her own use -- the lost dot represents bad blood, the costs of extracting resources tied up in the shared home, and so forth. Palace Size (up to *****) *0 dots - A Palace with no dots in Size is just large enough for one owner, and maybe a camp bed. *1 dot - A small apartment or a cabin in the woods; 1-2 rooms *2 dots - A large apartment or small remote house; 3-4 rooms *3 dots - A converted church, warehouse or large house; 5-8 rooms *4 dots - A mansion, extensive network of forgotten tunnels, or cavern under the earth; 9-15 rooms *5 dots - A vast palatial estate or complex underground village; countless rooms Palace Security (up to *****) Each dot assigned to Palace Security gives a -1 penalty to any attempt to gain entry to the Palace by anyone other than the contributors, or those they have given permission to enter. This can be represented by secure locks, the deliberate sculpting of the ground to cover the entry down to the underground rooms, or any suitable method determined by the Storyteller. In addition, the familiarity which setting up such defences implies allows the contributors to react faster should anyone break in; each dot grants a +1 to Initiative while inside. Palace Veiling (up to ***) Something odd happens to some Palaces, when its mistress deliberately associates her domicile with her mundane self and avoids associating it with her Transformed self. The effects of her Dual Identity seeps into her home, preventing others from connecting it to her Transformed Identity. Each dot assigned to Palace Veiling provides a -1 penalty to any attempt to find the location of the Palace when searching for the home of it's mistresses' Transformed Identity. Searching for her Mundane Identity's home has no penalty. Dots in Palace Veiling also apply a -1 per dot penalty to any attempts to notice anything out of the ordinary about the Palace. In addition, this also serves to protect those inside from hostile scrying; any attempt to scry the location is penalised too. This does not stack with any other Merits that penalize scrying -- apply the larger penalty if a character with such a Merit enters a veiled Palace. To veil a Palace, and keep it veiled, a Princess must visit it regularly and for long periods; 20 hours a week suffices to preserve the concealment, but each week the Princess misses reduces the penalty by 1 until the time is made up. In a shared Palace with Veiling, the necessary time rises by 10 hours for each contributor past the first, but the time any contributor spends there counts -- 2 Princesses sharing a Palace must be there for 30 hours between them, 3 Princesses must stay for 40 hours among them, and so forth. Anything which draws large scale public attention to the location destroys the concealment; a fight between rival Princesses where large quantities of magic are thrown around is exactly the sort of thing which might draw attention. The dots assigned to Palace Veiling are lost, and cannot be re-bought while the event remains in the public's memory. Palace Amenities (*-*****, special) Prerequisite: a Palace, with Size dots equal to or greater than the level of the Merit Over time, some Hopeful turn space in their Palaces to a use other than the residential, collecting memorabilia of their struggles, records and papers, tools of a trade, or other, stranger things. With this Merit, your Palace becomes one such. Like the Palace Merit, Palace Amenities is composed of multiple sub-Merits; each dot purchased is assigned to a sub-Merit. Palaces with Amenities tend to accumulate clutter, curiosities and souvenirs. On occasion some of the bits are useful. Once per chapter, if you have access to the Palace, you may roll its total Amenities dots; if you succeed, you find a bit of equipment that confers a bonus equal to your successes on tasks lying within a specialty for one of the Amenities, and which also relates to a problem you currently face. (The Storyteller is encouraged to be obtuse and promote lateral thinking with the found object; the players might not have been looking for something which gives +2 when trying to loosen car exhausts to deal with an Alhambran surveillance network in town, but they'll probably find a way, if suitably motivated.) Special: A group with a shared Palace may buy Amenities for it, on the same terms as the Palace Merit. A contributor who abandons a shared Palace takes back any Amenities dots she contributed as well as her contribution to the Palace itself. Craftyard (*-*****) Many Princesses are tinkerers and testers. A Craftyard is a fairly comprehensive set of tools and raw materials and parts designed to aid in the application of a certain practice. Each dot in this sub-Merit equates to one specialisation. It should be roughly as broad as a Craft specialty, although "Medicine" is explicitly permitted as an exception, representing a place set up for medical procedures. When practising such an action in the Palace, with access to the Craftyard (for example, trying to shape the garden when you have a Craftyard (Garden)) you gain a +3 bonus. Only a character who has contributed to the merit may benefit from it. Gallery (*-*****) Humans are social creatures and Princesses even more so. A Gallery is a set up designed to help with anything from dinner parties to theatre shows. Each dot in this sub-Merit is equivalent to one Speciality in Expression, Persuasion or Socialise. When performing any action which fits under a Gallery speciality the Princess gets a +3 bonus (for example, hosting a dinner party when you have Gallery (Dinner Parties) you would get +3 to Socialise.) Only a character who has contributed to the merit may benefit from it Library (*-*****) You possess a large number of books and other media, within which are contained a wealth of information and knowledge (both mundane and occult). Whether it's in the form of a meticulously organised array of textbooks on modern sciences, a clutter of arcane tomes which, nonetheless, you know your own way around, or even a massive bank of servers and computers in which the date you've found have been stored, you can get access to knowledge which other sources might not have. Each dot in this sub-Merit equates to a field of study, similar in breadth to an Academics, Science or Occult specialty. With Library 2, for example, the dots might be assigned to Alhambran History and Local Legends, for example. Topics can cover things which no normal mortal would know, although Storytellers should note that the Enlightened do not have an as developed history or as broad a knowledge of the denizens of the World of Darkness as some of the other inhabitants of the shadows and, so frequently their sources will be unreliable or vague (or stolen from Alhambran Outposts, and so somewhat biased). Libraries are not infallible, after all, and do not always provide a definitive answer to a question, as different authors may have different views. As a general rule of thumb, a specialisation in a mundane topic is likely to be both more comprehensive and more accurate than an occult one. Gaining knowledge from a library is a research roll, as featured in pp. 55-56 of the World of Darkness Core Book, except a character who has contributed dots to this Merit only spends 10 minutes per roll when researching, rather than the default 30 (they know what's in it, and a filing system is, after all, what distinguishes a library from a pile of books). Royal Tongue (*) Prerequisite: Sworn or Hopeful. It might be possible for other supernatural creatures to find a way to mimic its effects, but that would require the active use of powers (such as the Mind Arcanum or a Majesty Devotion), and so they cannot learn the Merit. You know how to produce the Royal Tongue. You can use it to enhance your Charms, or to sway a crowd of mortals. As languages go the Royal Tongue is unique, it is quite possibly the densest language there is. Meaning is conveyed not just by words but also tone and the placement of stresses, two different words could be completely identical except for where it's grammatically acceptable to use them. A monosyllabic prefix or suffix can completely change a word within it's conceptual space; the Royal Tongue has over a thousand words for friend, (and just as many for: lover or sister or brother) each defines the exact details of the relationship and not only do they all come from the same root word, they all sound like that root word. The hardest thing to do with the Royal Tongue is speak a straight sentence. Between the grammatical rules and the enormous amount of information in every word a simple sentence like “thank you for helping” would, if translated into English, look like two paragraphs of flowery purple prose about the inherent virtue of teamwork. When asked how such a language came about the Queen of Hearts implies that it was deliberate, the Queen of Spades bursts into laughter and the Queen of Diamonds (who's fluent in, and prefers, most Earthly languages) gives a put upon sigh. Mortals can hear the the Royal Tongue but they cannot understand it. Many Princesses swear blind that the Royal Tongue uses magic as well as sound waves as a carrier to pack even more information into each word. The cost of this is that only Princesses, Sworn and Beacons can understand the Royal Tongue. Beacons can't even speak it. To anyone else it sounds like someone singing in an unknown melodic language. The Royal Tongue can't be recorded either, a Princess who hears a recording of the Royal Tongue catches at best the occasional word, it sounds as though someone has removed 40% of the syllables and all the grammar. This is considerably more confusing than it would be in a normal language. The most useful aspect of the Royal Tongue is to enhance a Princess' Charms (Though some Troubadours insist it's use in lyrics and poetry is more useful... Deep purple prose is an acquired taste). If you spend a turn speaking the Royal Tongue, declaring that you will use a Charm on a target, and forcing the qualia, the experience and feeling of what you are about to do, into the musical speech, your activation roll for the power gains the 9-again quality. Use of the Royal Tongue is a supernatural ability, and triggers the sense of individuals with Unseen Senses (Princesses). Shikigami (****) Some creatures of the Dreamlands have followed the Princesses to Earth and become embodied, not as human beings but as animals. These creatures, more intelligent than their mundane kin, are drawn to the Princesses' Inner Light, and often become the boon companion and advisor to one. Other Dreamlands beings can be summoned into the waking world to animate a vessel – a doll or a stuffed toy – and give the summoning Princess his aid. You have one of these companions, called a Shikigami. All Shikigami possess to some degree an oracular gift that grants flashes of insight relevant to their Princess' problems. In addition, they can transform to a more potent shape, use Practical Magic and even learn something of the Charms. You design your Shikigami's starting traits. A Shikigami is statted out as a normal animal, with at least 1 dot in each Attribute plus extra dots allocated 5/4/3 and Skill dots allocated 9/6/3. Its Size is at most 8, and its Willpower, Initiative and Speed are calculated as for a normal animal of its type. A Shikigami also has a pool of Wisps, which is capped at 10, and one transformed dot in an Attribute. Finally, a Shikigami gets 1 dot in Circle, 1 dot in Dream, and 6 free Merit dots. They may spend their dots on Circle, Dream and appropriate Physical or Mental Merits, including Striking Looks for when cuteness becomes a weapon. In addition Merits may be spent to increase it's Size, a size of 1-5 is free, any more requires one Merit dot per point of Size to a maximum of 8. Finally Merit dots may be spent to buy one dot Charms at two Merit dots per Charm. Your Shikigami can spend its Wisps on Practical Magic in the same circumstances that you can. He cannot spend more than one Wisp each turn. He regains Wisps by spending time in your company, using the rules of the Circle Merit (you are his Circle, in effect.) If you are touching him, you may transfer one Wisp between your pool and your Shikigami's as an instant action. To improve a Shikigami, you must spend your own experience points to upgrade his traits. Your Shikigami may buy dots in Merits, both mundane and transformed Attribute and Skill dots, Skill Specialities and Charms. A Shikigami's maximum rating in Charms is capped by your Inner Light, at Inner Light 1 it may buy only one dot Charms. Every two points of Inner Light increase the limit by one. Your Shikigami knows every language you know exactly as well as you do, and can produce the Royal Tongue if you have that Merit. All Shikigami can move about, and grasp and carry objects, even if their vessels could not. Shikigami based on flying creatures keep their vessel's flight. Striking Transformation (** or ****) Your perfected self has a physical beauty that your mundane state lacks. While you are transformed, and only then, you have the benefits of Striking Looks (2 if you take 2 dots, 4 if you buy 4.) You may not take both Striking Looks and Striking Transformation -- the Striking Looks Merit applies to both forms by default. You may, however, buy Striking Looks 2 as part of Striking Transformation 4; this means you gain a +1 bonus in the mundane state on eligible rolls, and +2 on the same rolls when transformed. At the end of a story, you may convert two dots of Striking Transformation into Striking Looks for free. Sworn (****) Prerequisite: Not supernatural The Sworn are mortals who know of the Princesses' mission, and have taken an oath to one of the Queens, promising to fulfill it. Their loyalty connects them to the Light, and allows them to draw on it for a modicum of power. Sworn can recognize, transform and use Bequests, with an effective Inner Light of 1. They may learn the Invocation favored by the Queen they're sworn to, though at the out-of-affinity rate, and apply it when they use Bequests. They gain a pool of Wisps, holding a number of Wisps equal to their Resolve + Presence. They may spend these Wisps on Practical Magic, exactly as the Princesses following the Queen they're sworn to do, or to activate a Bequest. Sworn do not, however, gain Wisps as the Hopeful do -- to fill their pool, they rely on the Hopeful's gifts. Any Princess of the same court can give Wisps to a Sworn from her own pool in a ritual confirmation of the oath, up to her Wisp/turn limit; that ritual requires a minute to perform, and the full concentration of both parties. The Charge Charm will also give Wisps to the Sworn, and an Accepted Charge Bequest can transfer Wisps to its user. (Such Bequests are highly prized among followers of Tears and Storms, who lacked Hopeful allies until recently, but have ways to gather Wisps without them.) Drawback: The Sworn are vulnerable to Sensitivity, with an effective Inner Light of 1. If Sworn gain dots in Shadows, they can travel to the Dreamlands, using the same rules as Beacons. The Accept Fealty Charm, cast by a Princess or with a Bequest, allows the purchase of this Merit. Veiling (* - ***) Some Hopeful's perfected selves differ so much from their mundane selves that they are excessively difficult to identify, even beyond the norm. A Princess with Veiling is one such; whenever an observer tries to connect her two identities, she adds her dots in the Merit to her dice pool in the contest. Also, supernatural attempts to discover her status as a Princess while she is not transformed suffer a penalty equal to her dots in the Merit. New Flaws p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; } Embarrassing Phylactery Some Hopeful have a Phylactery which has an uplifting, even moral meaning to them personally but if presented in public causes nothing but trouble. This may be because the Princess is from an oppressed minority group and her Phylactery is a symbol of her people. It could be because her Phylactery has a different meaning to different cultures or because her Phylactery isn't appropriate for her age, social standing or gender. She gains one XP per story when misconceptions about her Phylactery or the attempt to conceal it causes her a significant hardship. Slow Transformation For whatever reason the Princess takes time to Transform, roughly about five minuets. Her Phylactery might be a small bag that somehow containing her entire regalia, which she must change into as with any other clothes. She may simply hover and sparkle for five minuets before the transformation is complete. Whatever the reason you gaim one XP per story whenever your slower Transformation causes you a significant hardship.